WORDS FROM BAMBAATAA

by Afrika Bambaataa / introduction by Faisal Ahmed
from The Bomb Hip-Hop Magazine #38 (March 1995)

He is known by a number of titles, "Godfather Of Hip-Hop",
"Master Of Records", "Greatest DJ On Earth" - etc etc.
Now while a number of teenage buckwild shorties who score
with one hit record inflate their own egos to ridiculous levels
through their own blunt-smoke induced gauge of talent, he is a man
who truly deserves the above titles and more. However, if one word
can accurately describe Bambaataa Aasim, more regularly known as
Afrika Bambaataa, it is intelligence.

This is a man who could very easily be living in a
multimillion dollar ivory tower, content with his life and focused
purely upon money. But not Bambaataa. He recognises that a great
deal of ignorance exists within society, and he constantly strives
to educate the misguided, indoctrinated masses. Taking his previous
experiences as a gangbanger, he redirects the lessons of the streets
into a positive and knowledgeable form. Serving as a source of
inspiration and wisdom, he uses a philosophy of not misguiding
youth, simply highlighting the facts and allowing people to draw
their own conclusions. He does this from the same South Bronx
streets he ran 25 years ago with the notorious Black Spades.
The main thing that always strikes me about Bam though, is
his genuine approachability and how humble he is about his
achievements. He always speaks to you as an equal and he`ll always
hug you like a brother when he sees you. Compare this to the
behaviour of 95% of the current hip-hop community and you begin to
understand the difference between men and boys, and you start to see
where infiltrators began to fuck up our culture with that policy of
"divide and conquer."

The very fact that you are able to buy and read this
magazine means that you owe a debt to Bambaataa, whether you
acknowledge the fact or not. Now it`s crunchtime. Read the following
and peep out your response. If you can understand and open your mind
to the bigger picture, contact the Zulu Nation. If you have
difficulty, check your head and ask yourself if you consider
yourself to be long term with hip-hop or whether you are treating it
as a fad. Remember, knowledge is infinite, and there is no power
greater than the power of the mind, but it`s up to you as an
individual to use it.

peace,
Faisal Ahmed



Hip-Hop vs Hip-Hop (Take it for what it is)

I, Afrika Bambaataa, have heard it all, read it all, in many
magazines throughout the world, and seen almost all in this
continuing bullshit about which rappers are better, east coast v
west coast, Miami bass hip-hop is bullshit, British Rappers sound
funny rapping, electro funk, techno rappers are soft, I like
hardcore rap and beats, this one group is like that, old school vs
new school, Rap wouldn`t be rap if it wasn`t for the battles, I`m
the quickest, baddest rapper, deejay around, Go Go music in
Washington D. C. is dead. It`s all about hip-house or house music
all night long. I dis you, you dis me, my crew will take you out or
kick your ass, fuck this or that, Nigger, Bitch, Nigguz, Nigguh,
Hoe, Hooker, Bitches with Problems, Hoes with Attitudes.
Just look at yourselves, sounding like a bunch of fools, who
really don`t have any true knowledge of self and knowledge of
hip-hop culture and what it`s all about. First of all, let me tell
you that the music (beats) that makes up hip-hop, comes from
different nationalities and races, especially from black people, and
if you think I am a brother who don`t know what he is talking about,
just check out many of the music, beats, grooves and sounds that
many of your rappers use to make their records or rap over. Hip-hop
music in general is colorless and not racist. It comes from many
categories in music, for example: Hip-hop music is made up from
other forms of music like funk, soul, rhythm & blues, jazz, rock
heavy metal, salsa, soca (calypso), TV shows, kiddie shows, horror
movies, techno, pop, disco, african, arabic, reggae -etc. . . . and
if you use any records from these categories, you will see that the
music is made by people from different races or nationalities from
all over the planet, but it`s roots start with black people.

I have read many interviews by different rap groups
throughout the world, just to see where their heads are at, whether
they are really knowledgeable about hip-hop music/culture or whether
they are just plain assholes. Many of the rappers will down(dis)
another rapper because he or she wanted to experiment with hip-hop
by singing or adding a different sound in hip-hop to create
something new. When are all of you in the hip-hop world going to
"wake up"? You love to keep dissing each other for nothing and if
you were wise in your disrespect of each other, you would know how
to make money with respecting your disrespect of each other, if you
truly understand what I am saying.

Many who are into hip-hop or part of hip-hop culture
throughout the world need a check up from the neck up. In fact, and
in truth, the whole human family needs one. Everyone needs to check
up on their own roots and culture and seek the real truths on life
on this so-called planet Earth. Knowledge, wisdom, and
understanding, facts and truths about black, brown, red, yellow and
white people and not that brainwash white supremacy shit that white
people in power have taught all over the world and to their own
people of the so called planet Earth.
Yes there are many wrongs in the worldwide hip-hop
community, but there are also many aspects of positivity within the
hip-hop community that the media or trade magazines rarely focus
upon. Many of you in hip-hop culture don`t even listen to the
rappers who are trying hard to wake your asses up to what is going
on in the bigger scale than of what you see in your neighborhoods,
their message goes in one ear and out the other.

The media does play a big role in destroying the hip-hop
culture movement, but many of you in the hip-hop community are the
biggest enemies of hip-hop and you will be the ones who will help
the enemies of hip-hop to destroy it, or to bring it back
underground, because of your ignorance of knowledge of hip-hop. This
has started the difference between "old school" and "new school". To
myself (Afrika Bambaataa) there is only one school and that`s the
learning, evolving, going through the different phases or cycles
school of hip-hop. That is the real hip-hop school. A lot of you in
the world of hip-hop better start looking at the problems in your
own backyard as well as the world, because while you are enjoying
yourselves etc. there are many plots being sprung to destroy hip-hop
in the world. Because many people in government look at hip-hop
music and its culture as a radical music that gets straight to the
point and music that will wake up the youth and young adults
throughout the world. They can also use hip-hop to backfire and
destroy itself. You can believe what I`m saying. But time will tell
and I see what you see not.



Peace be unto you,

Your brother In music and faith, Afrika Bambaataa.